"At 2.20am (on Oct. 5), when the Rena hit that reef, in my view, an oil spill was inevitable given the extent to which the underside of the vessel was so badly damaged," Dr. Smith told an environment debate in Auckland last night, Radio New Zealand reported.

However, Dr. Smith dismissed the opposition parties' criticism of the authorities' response as "ill-informed and unfair on people that are trying to deal with an emergency situation."

The Labour and the Greens, with Green Party Labour co-leader Russell Norman have questioned why clean up equipment was not brought in sooner if an oil spill was expected.

As this developed, government prosecutors on Wednesday morning laid fresh charges against the captain and navigational officer of MV Rena. Costamare Shipping, Rena's owners, could also find themselves prosecuted, Dr. Smith told NZ Herald on Wednesday.

The new charges under the Resource Management Act laid against the pair carry financial penalties of up to $300,000 for an individual and up to $600,000 for a company.

"The Government is of a view we need to throw the full force of the law at those responsible, not only for the deaths of over 1400 birds but also pollution to tens of kilometres of beaches … In fact, it would be remiss given that it is New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster if there was not a prosecution under the RMA," Dr. Smith said.